Monday 8th October 2012 - Pamproux

We thought about going into Poitiers today but decided to leave that for another year. Vivonne is an excellent location to visit Poitiers by public transport as there is a main TGV railway line and a good bus service into the town. The railway station, where the buses also stop, is just 200 metres from the motorhome aire.

When touring, it is important to keep an open mind. We plan roughly what we are going to do that day but are always willing to change our mind. Today was one of those days where we ending up doing none of what we had planned.

We set off west from Vivonne heading for a ravine shown as a point of interest on the AA map but came across a tourist sign to the Tumulus of Bourgon. We had seen this on the map but hadn't noticed that there was also a museum. On a whim, I turned off the main road and followed the signs. Monday is the day when many museums and sites are closed and many sites are not open in low season. Sure enough, the museum was closed but we had a look at the outside and that was enough to convince us that this was a major site and well worth a visit. Establishing that it was open tomorrow, we decided that we would return in the morning. Now we had to decide what we were going to do for the rest of the day.

There are ancient silver mines in Melle and, given that we were now not far away, we decided to investigate. We arrived to find two coaches of school children there – it was open! However, it turned out that it was only open for schools during the week at this time of the year and we couldn't wait until the weekend to see it. We headed out to the abbey at Celles-sur-Belle when Jane had noticed that there was an aire where we could have lunch.

The aire is in a fantastic position next to the very attractive abbey. We met another British couple there – Eli and Maureen were on their way to Spain for six months and we stood chatting with them in the hot sun for ages until we decided that we really had to investigate the village. It was possible to walk around the grounds of the abbey where there was a huge and intriguing 'Insect Garden'. The abbey church was lovely with a simple interior and elegant columns towering up to the roof.

We pottered back to Pamproux, close to the Tumulus of Bougon and found the aire on the edge of the village. It seemed like a peaceful location but then the lorries started driving past. Half of the French army were being transported past our aire. When I checked our map, I found a military area just east of the village and, judging by how quickly the lorries were turned around, that was their destination. Fortunately, the lorries stopped by about 22:00 and we were able to get a good night's sleep.

Photos: The Celles-sur-Belle abbey and the lovely doorway and soaring columns of the abbey church.